Illinois politics opens Tuesday for Feb. primary

August 03, 2009

Illinois' wild, seemingly non-stop political season opens a new chapter Tuesday as hundreds of candidates for federal, state and county offices in next year's elections begin gathering voter signatures to appear on the Feb. 2 primary ballot.

It is the launch of a scramble for attention in an election like no other. There's an open race for the U.S. Senate seat that was clouded by scandal after Barack Obama left it for the White House. And there's the election of a governor, a job held by unelected incumbent Pat Quinn, who moved to the top post when Rod Blagojevich was ousted by lawmakers in January.

Competing for attention with the marquee races will be hundreds of down-ballot candidates for offices that include all 19 of Illinois' congressional seats, Cook County Board president and DuPage County Board chairman. Elections also will be held in all 118 state House districts and 21 of 59 state Senate districts.

"It makes our job in getting the message across a little more challenging," said state Sen. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst, the DuPage County Republican chairman who is among several candidates who have announced or are considering a bid for the GOP nomination to head the County Board. "It's absolutely a much more grass-roots-driven effort."

The state has been in constant political turbulence since November's election of Obama as president. That was followed a month later by Blagojevich's arrest, the disgraced governor's controversial appointment of Democrat Roland Burris to Obama's seat, calls that faded for a special U.S. Senate election, the first impeachment trial of an Illinois governor, Quinn's installation to the state's top job, his unsuccessful call for an income-tax increase and a lengthy state budget impasse.

The Illinois primary is the earliest in the nation, and so is its filing process. Candidates begin filing petitions Oct. 26, effectively setting the stage for a shortened 14-week campaign season shoehorned around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays. Several candidates have decided to formally declare for office Tuesday, the first day their volunteers can circulate candidacy petitions.

The early filing date also gives members of the Illinois legislature a look at their opponents, gauging their potential strength before they take another look at casting a politically tricky vote for an income-tax increase to shore up the shaky state budget.